STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island doctor is among 91 people -- including physicians and other medical professionals -- charged with participating in fraudulent Medicare billing schemes nationwide, to the tune of $295 million.

Dr. Billy N. Geris schemed to pay cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries who were prescribed medically unnecessary services, such as physical therapy and diagnostic tests, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday in Brooklyn federal court. Those fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare for payment, said prosecutors.

Dr. Geris, 53, was working at Solstice Wellness Center, with offices in Brooklyn and Rockaway Park, Queens, when the alleged crimes occurred between January 2009 and April 2010, prosecutors said.

The internist has medical practices in Eltingville and Concord. Court papers contain no allegations against the Staten Island offices. Dr. Geris no longer works at Solstice, prosecutors said.

Two months ago, the Advance reported on an unrelated civil lawsuit filed by the NYPD in an attempt to shut down Dr. Geris' Eltingville office. Police contend the Hylan Boulevard location was used twice last year as a "house of prostitution."

Dr. Geris and his civil lawyer, Robert Prignoli, vigorously denied the allegations, claiming the doctor had no knowledge of illegal activity. They said Dr. Geris, whose office is on the first floor, had leased the second floor, where the purported prostitution occurred, to an acupuncturist and massage therapist, who was evicted earlier this year, they said.

That case is pending.

Dr. Geris could not immediately be reached yesterday for comment on the fraud allegations. The doctor has been licensed to practice in the state since 1996 and has a spotless disciplinary history, online state Health Department records show.

Prignoli said yesterday he had no knowledge of the latest accusations.

The identity of Dr. Geris' criminal defense lawyer was not immediately available yesterday.

Eight others have been charged in connection with the alleged Solstice scam, including Dr. Jesse A. Stoff, 55, the former medical director, according to court papers. One of those indicted is a 72-year-old Medicare beneficiary, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the two doctors and the woman bilked Medicare of more than $3.4 million. Some individual services billed were in the $250 range, court records show.

Dr. Geris and Dr. Stoff were each charged with conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six counts of health care fraud, a spokesman for Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said.

The health care fraud and health care fraud conspiracy charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per count, the spokesman said.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday that 70 people nationwide were charged in indictments unsealed Tuesday and yesterday and 21 others were charged earlier, beginning Aug. 24.

At a news conference, the attorney general said those arrested are "jeopardizing the integrity of our health care system." Sebelius called the law enforcement initiative "a powerful warning to those who would try to defraud taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries."